Travel the world. Ignore these asshats that try to guilt trip you into working through your slump.
I'm completely demotivated to work; what can I do?
121–130 of 135 posts
Re: I'm completely demotivated to work; what can I do?
#122Dude, whatever you choose to do, please do yourself a favor and ignore the bullshit advice that starts with - "this is how the real world works..." That nonsense only comes from people who had settled for the average. Life works in any way that you want it to work. Look, if you don't want to do the shit work, don't do it, but don't bitch and moan and complain about it. Instead, find a way to still get shit done, whil…
Great post. This is the kind of perspective you want to have. This reminds me of PG's high school essay:
"The important thing is to get out there and do stuff. Instead of waiting to be taught, go out and learn." - PG
Before I quote the whole thing, the OP (and anyone in the same position) should read the whole essay: http://paulgraham.com/hs.html
If you want the real world to be (quoting from the other post) "lots of sucky boring shitty work, for a few profound moments of bliss," that's fine. But if you don't want to accept that, you don't have to. What Kirill said above is totally right; life works how you want it to.
It's normal for someone in high school to feel like the OP, especially someone who's a hacker at heart. School limits you in a lot of ways, but you don't have to let it stop you. You just have to realize that the boundaries are self imposed. You can do real things. So treat school like a day job, get it out of the way, and do what's interesting to you.
Re: I'm completely demotivated to work; what can I do?
#123I'm going to say something that's a little tough but it's meant as advice coming from years of mistakes before I finally got my head on the right way: Part of growing up is learning to prioritize what you need to do, even if it isn't fun, over what you like to do. This is how the real world works, and it's what you'll spend the rest of your life doing. Learning to do it when you're young, when mistakes are smaller, w…
I had this long diatribe pounded out and ready to submit, but, why bother? It's going to fall on deaf ears. People have bought into the "hard work" lie so fully. I'll just leave it at this: While there are notable exceptions, hard work is not a reliable predictor of success. Do you really think those multi-million dollar penthouses in Manhattan and those huge estates in the hills on the SF Bay peninsula are inhabited…
Who said hard work alone would make you hugely rich and successful? Hard work is just a requirement for those who weren't born into wealth if they don't want to live in poverty. Working hard allows you to make the most of your opportunities.
Also, it usually takes hard work to get into the most prestigious universities (if you aren't already a silver spooner). It can also be a lot of hard work to make friends with the right people if you aren't naturally a people person.
Re: I'm completely demotivated to work; what can I do?
#124Re: I'm completely demotivated to work; what can I do?
#125If you're a gamer, think of it as Skyrim: you have to craft a lot of iron daggers before you can make dragon armors, but it's worth it :)
(that or install a mod, but I haven't found the editor for RealLife yet)
Re: I'm completely demotivated to work; what can I do?
#126> Are there any ways by which I could motivate myself to study more? Probably not, if you're asking the question. But I don't think you should study more. I think you should program more, since it's already something you enjoy enough to do for fun. It's a question of playing to your strengths. Put in the 10,000 hours of sustained effort that it takes to truly become great at it. Prove your abilities through open sour…
I'm not sure it's advisable to encourage somebody not to do well on their A-levels. It's not like the US where you can get low marks in secondary school and be fine. He won't be able to attend a decent university, ever. Correct me if I'm wrong.
The same logic applies in the US. You won't be going to a good college if you have bad high school grades.
But my advice was to consider eschewing academia entirely. I've worked with too many well-paid, respected developers without degrees to take the value of credentialing very seriously.
It's not a panacea, of course. It takes a lot of sustained work and learning whether you do it in school or not. Some people just find it easier to learn outside of formal schooling.
Re: I'm completely demotivated to work; what can I do?
#127So you don't like school work. You could get higher grades if only you were more motivated... i.e. you are exactly like every other 16 year old I ever knew. Most of them because more motivated once they started university and were able to focus on what they enjoyed studying. I'd be more worried if you were motivated at 16, because then you'd probably burn out, or grow up to be an obnoxious brain box. Also, since you…
>you are exactly like every other 16 year old I ever knew.
Really? Because when I was in high school I knew plenty of ridiculously overachieving 16 year olds.
Re: I'm completely demotivated to work; what can I do?
#128They way I think about it is you can work a dead end job for 80 hours per week making $8 an hour to make enough to survive and not have any free time to socialize, go to the gym or be with family. Or study for and try to get a decent job you like that pays half decent so you don't have to become a human eraser and wear yourself down doing the work of others. Having many skills to fall back on is great but trying to l…
I've found this fear to be my greatest motivator, but it has also lead me down false paths. Truth is, your dichotomy is a fiction. There are plenty of people who live fulfilling lives without ever having consciously focused on learning skills and meeting qualifications wanted by employers. However, nobody gets anywhere by being lazy – one then needs to find another motivator. One I have in mind is: repulsion toward i…
I shouldn't say or at least didn't mean a lot of money is the only way to be happy, yes finding something you love to do and your family is able to live a good life is the goal.
Education is a great character builder I often see educated people in stressful situations far more calm than someone who worked all their lives wit no education other than high school. It's not a science it doesn't apply every time but education gives you options, if you lose your job at a sawmill where you worked since age 16 you're going to be stressed. Sooner or later we all figure this out but it's better to discover that at age 18 than 49.
Re: I'm completely demotivated to work; what can I do?
#129Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not sure it's advisable to encourage somebody not to do well on their A-levels. It's not like the US where you can get low marks in secondary school and be fine. He won't be able to attend a decent university, ever. Correct me if I'm wrong.
The same logic applies in the US. You won't be going to a good college if you have bad high school grades. But my advice was to consider eschewing academia entirely. I've worked with too many well-paid, respected developers without degrees to take the value of credentialing very seriously. It's not a panacea, of course. It takes a lot of sustained work and learning whether you do it in school or not. Some people just…
I think it's better to make that decision when you're 18, not 16. Always best to keep your options open because you don't know how you or the world will change, even in the near future.
Re: I'm completely demotivated to work; what can I do?
#130Exercise. Relatively new discovery that lactic acid, that comes from muscle use, is a "pre-cursor" for motivation.
Counter-example: Me, I don't work out. I work 9-5 at a tech job and then spend the weekend working on my own products. I don't struggle with motivation as I literally enjoy what I do.
Always question advice that people like to rattle off - humans are very good at perpetuating bad memes without a second thought. Like that running a marathon (26 miles) in one go is somehow healthy, without ever questioning why a healthy activity would make them shit their pants and nipples bleed.
In fact exercising would probably decrease the probability that I would be productive as it would consume more of my time and energy.
My 0.02